HF Habs: What are your initial impressions of the Habs 2023 Draft class?

[Wats]

I accidently pressed D I meant to press F

Same thing happened to Hughes. He pressed D a lot this draft.

 

[InglewoodJack]

Good draft, solid players. Don’t listen to people who are like “yeah so based on this one YouTube clip I watched after he was drafted, thinking he’s more of a #2.5 D man than a #1. Bad trade”. We got a bonafide future #1 and some interesting prospects here. It’s great, now we move.

 

[FF de Mars]

It was hard to digest because management didn't make sexy moves, but it's what the doctor ordered, talented big possible #1 Dman on the backend with Reinchacher, potential elite skills with the Newhook trade, and a goalie in Fowler; plus Arber's brother for toughness! This draft was like a strick diet, it's not what you want but it's good for you. Obviously we'd rather have one of those flashy guys, we're fans, we watch highlights, but I'm happy management took this hard decision with a lot of temperance. People are saying Reincher is the safe pick, yet he's actually a homerun pick, because you are banking on his potential, I found this gem on the elite prospects video about him, that's what the youtuber said!

 

[DiglettDangles]

The class will be defined by Reinbacher and Newhook.

Akchuaylly
This draft class will be defined by Michkov because that's the name we'll be hearing for 15 years.

 

[DAChampion]

The 2012 draft is the happiest that I've seen this board.

 

[le_sean]

Happy with Reinbacher and Newhook. And statistically speaking, only 1st and 2nd rounders really have a chance at being impact players or NHLers for that matter (Newhook already is one). Fowler is a great pick, lots of potential. The rest, meh.

 

[26Mats]

Still not over but I don’t think our remaining pick(s) are going to move the needle all that much. Will update accordingly.

It’s certainly a draft class I don’t think anyone could have predicted. Definitely drafting for need and ignoring BPA in essentially every case. Clearly throwing darts at a board and hoping one of the goalies hit. I have high hopes for Fowler, just has to get in shape.

5th overall - David Reinbacher, D

69th overall - Jacob Fowler, G

101st overall - Florian Xhekaj, LW

110th overall - Bogdan Konyushkov, D

128th overall - Quentin Miller, G

133rd overall - Sam Harris, LW

144th overall - Yevgeni Volokhin, G

165th overall - Filip Eriksson, C

197th overall - Luke Mittelstadt, D

Everything depends on Michkov.

If Reinbacher is a stud and not surpassed by Michkov, I like the draft. Don't need anything whatsoever to hit after Reinbacher.

Also if Newhook becomes that 60 point player, it's a good use of a late 1st and early 2nd. You hope one of those 2 picks could become that, though there's no guarantee.

 

[Gravity]

That's an F from me. Drafting for need and blowing good picks on Newhook is no bueno.

 

[Draft]

It was entertaining! That's about all I can say as we really went hunting for the diamond in the rough. Hardly have any viewings of our picks, so I'll reserve judgement.

 

[Scriptor]

No Mychkov? Sad. The rest I dont care. Happy we got Newhook.

Reinbacher + Newhook could be huge for our core. Here's hoping it works out fine

Ideally:

- Reinbacher: Top Paring D (50 point)​

- Newhook: top 6 C / W (65 to 70 points)​

- One goalie pans out and is our backup​

Reinbacher could play -- right now -- with Matheson. The two styles are quite complementary. It would be a way of molding Reinbacher as an eventual pairing partner for Hutson.

Look at Reinbacher as a Weber-lite. Nothing to cream your pants over, but a solid, consistent stroke for long-lasting enjoyment.

I really don't know about Newhook...

One G Pams out? Sure. It's always tossing spaghettis against the wall to see if one sticks with Gs.

 

[kyne]

I get the impression that the whole draft philosophy this year was about minimizing risk to fill a need. I'll defer to someone more knowledgeable but, at first glance, not too many high risk, high reward selections and a pretty narrow focus.

 

[DJBREADMAN]

One of the worst drafts I've ever seen. If the hype around this draft being one of the best in years is correct, it will set the franchise back years. This could be one of those drafts in years people will look back and go this is where it went wrong for the new group. Total waste of a season and I won't be watching another one like that. They need to make some trades and signings on Saturday and go for it.

 

[sampollock]

pretty poor showing

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Draft graded are based on sexy picks.

To grade a draft 5 minutes after its completed is dumb.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

I genuinely do not know enough about the players but when you end the year with 2 1st rounders(one in top 5) and 11 picks total you expect something of value to come out of it.

Yes, we traded 2 picks for Newhook so we're actually at 9 but this draft year will be judged on how everything turns out.

I don't necessarily subscribe to the theory that anyone in top 5 has to be some elite talent. More often that not they aren't but Reinbacher needs to end up an elite #3 or at least a #2 to justify the pick IMO.

Let us not forget we went off the board(slightly) last year too and did not choose Wright. If for some reason Wright ends up best player in the draft last year we'll look like fools for not going with the consensus pick. Same here, if some of the player drafted after David end up significantly better it might be a theme where our deviation from the consensus is a problem. Only time will tell.

 

[David Suzuki]

If we’re including newhook i’d say a B really like the possibility there

 

[Treb]

I'm ok with Reinbacher.

Fowler is great value.

Miller, Volohkov, Eriksson and Konyushkov are interesting.

Xhekaj was taken too soon.

Meh on Mittelstadt and Harris.

C+/B-

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Good draft, solid players. Don’t listen to people who are like “yeah so based on this one YouTube clip I watched after he was drafted, thinking he’s more of a #2.5 D man than a #1. Bad trade”. We got a bonafide future #1 and some interesting prospects here. It’s great, now we move.

I don't know enough about David, I actually know zero but what makes you so sure he's a bonafide future #1 pairing D?

On many draft projections in the media they have him as a top 4. This is from people who have a history evaluating talent.

Of course, those lists are merely projections, they are never 100% right but I've seen more say he's a top 4 than he's a 'bonafide top 2'.

I am hopeful though. We'll see how he turns out but I'm just not sure where you got that opinion is all.

 

[Kosseca]

This is a hard week with expectations....
no PLD
no top end offensive talent
lost 2 good pick for another project in newhook
very obscure draft....

There is much to desire from a fan perspective and you need of high level of faith that:
- No5 pick turns into a no1 Dman like Josi or Seider
- Newhook can slide into a top 6 role and be a point producers
- some of these picks are under the radar good....

I should add... we need faith that they also can trade away some deadwood. I mean Dvorak as got to go.

 

[MaynardJames]

The problem is not who we draft cause really any kid can succeeds at any given time but those we left there for reason I don't understand. We never pick BPA which we should. Picking for need is the worst direction you can take. + The trade of Newhook which is very bad to me. Newhook is more risky than Dvorak and that's 4 high end pick we lost for nothing of value. This group has no other vision than the short term. We could have got Cristall and Fisker-Molgaard who has so much more potential to hit a home run than Newhook who just shit in the pan with one of the best team in the league. We then let Perron, Price, Allen and many other great potantial prospect for a bunch a guy you'll never see. One of the worst draft I have seen since I follow prospects.

 

[DesmondDekker]

The 2012 draft is the happiest that I've seen this board.

Was about to bring this atrocious draft up. I loved most of our 2012 picks and look how it turned out.

Most of us haven’t seen any of our picks play one, let alone multiple games to give this draft an adequate grade. I’ll trust the professionals.

 

[jiboy]

Im amazed at how toxic this board is

People complaining left and right about 4th rounders+ , seriously ?

95% of the people here have no knowledge of players taken this late in the draft

I saw some decent project , im alright with our 2023 draft and I hope Reinbacher shows well in the future

 

[Captain Mountain]

Pretty meh.

I wanted Michkov, but Reinbacher was the best alternate once the centers were gone. He's a RD and D-men with his draft season profile don't come around every draft. Maybe not the sexiest pick, but people calling him a 2nd pair D haven't been looking at his comps.

I'm not a big fan of the Newhook trade, but for literally the exact same reasons as the Dach trade, so I'm prepared to be patient there. Its also the kind of trade they should be making.

Going for a bunch of goalies in a draft is actually a decent strategy, but I can't really comment on any of them.

The Xhekaj pick reeks of nepotism, but in general, drafting overagers in later rounds is also a pretty effective strategy too, although I can't speak to the players Montreal picked. Harris I have no idea about, but Mittelstadt feels like a guy who had been under-scouted because of the pandemic and where he plays and him making the WJC for the US is pretty interesting.

Eriksson is a mystery.

 

[Chr1s97]

beter make some mind blowing trade cause this draft was dog sh** , I wanted michkov so bad but I have to admit that our d-core seem set for many years to come but I wanted that elite scorer. Caufield on one line and michkov on an other.... beside that to many G and D drafted.... I really hope that he have a plan to address our lack off goal production

 

[Rapala]

With Newhook the team got better. By how much remains to be seen. We tried multiple players with Suzuki and none of them were even close to top 6 level.
After Dach last season I can't help but trust the move. Our Pro scouts did a decent job if we also take into account the service we got out of our waiver pick-up. I don't even know who got picked at 31 and 37 and frankly I don't care they are not Montreal Canadiens. Besides I'm sure there are people here who will be monitoring those players like a hawk and bringing it up every chance they get.

I like the Reinbacher pick. By all accounts he rocketed up the charts this past season and it's hard for me to believe that growth and development is going to plateau. He will eventually fill a huge hole on that right side one that is looked at as having additional value like a Center Iceman.

Not hitting what people would think of as a homerun doesn't bother me as I'm not sold on all the Matvei Michkov hype. One of the first four guys is what we really needed and that just wasn't in the cards. B